Baby Seals

I asked my sister to help me today to come up with a topic for a blog entry. I said anything and she gave me "baby seals". I said, "okay, baby seals it is."

This subject, I thought would be difficult for me as I don't live near a place where seals inhabit. I did go to San Francisco several years back and went shopping on a dock overlooking the harbor. It was a beautiful, yet windy day. We wore sweaters and were still a bit chilly but I didn't want to wear a jacket for fear of having to carry it around. The shops were nice but I don't remember anything special there, and I didn't buy anything. I do remember walking towards the water and letting the wind hit my face and enjoying the briskness of it. There were seals lounging on the floating docks around this shopping area. They were making these great noises and some of them were wrestling around with each other. It was fun to watch.

I usually don't think about this area much nor really the shopping on the dock, however it all came back to me two years ago when I heard a news story about a woman and her three young children. Apparently the children were missing and later they would be found and she would be arrested for murder. The story was so horrific to me that it brings me to tears just thinking about it.

On chilly, but sunny day this woman and her three babies, the oldest just 6 years old and the youngest just 9 months, were out on a dock similar to the one that I was on shopping. The woman stripped the children down to no clothes and one by one and tossed them in the water. She later states that they wanted to go swimming. She later is found to be mentally ill. Each child, though, stripped down and tossed in the 50 some degree water. There were other people on the dock that day but no one either saw her or for whatever reason stopped her.

I just don't understand how someone could hurt a child. I don't understand how a mother could toss her children in the cold water. I don't understand how no one saw her or stopped her. I read so many news articles of adults harming or killing children and in our times now it seems to be common. Even the TV dramas like ER, Law and Order, CSI, and such almost enjoy making a child injury, murder, abuse, etc, show because they know they will get the ratings as people will watch it. I had to stop watching ER because there were too many children on it. I can't watch Law and Order any more for the same reasons. I truly believe that if we allow our TV networks to air shows like this then we are only making these types of crimes "acceptable" and we are conditioning our children to not find it horrific and shocking when these types of things occur in our society.

It is just sick and sad.